Warhol Dervish plays Quartet of Heart and Breath, by Richard Reed Parry
Live in Montreal
Sala Rossa 18/12/11
This is the second in a series of compositions which use the automatic/involuntary muscles in the human body (specifically the lungs and the heart) as the performance parameters. All of the notes and cues are read from a score, but the tempos and rhythms and dynamics in which they are played are governed by either the heart rate or breathing rate of the individual players. Performers wear stethoscopes during the piece, which enables them to play in synch with their own heartbeats. At other times, the players are instructed to play as directly in synch with their own individual breath as possible, either playing along with their inhalation, or exhalation, or both. The idea is less about "performing" and more about directly translating into music the subtle, naturally varying internal rhythms of the individual players.
This kind of performing can yield a subtlety, a spaciousness, and a uniquely fragile style of interplay between performers and musical parts which can never be played the same twice: each performance is it's own unique, gentle collision of notes, dynamics, timing and shifting harmonies which has new life literally breathed into it every time it is played.
